The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season finale recap: Let's make some rings!
Welcome back to Middle-earth, where we finally get some answers to the mysteries that have shadowed season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
If you don't mind, I might take a second for a quick victory lap, since I did correctly predict (both in a previous recap and on EW's podcast All Rings Considered) that Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) was Sauron. It was the enmity between him and Adar (Joseph Mawle) right before Adar talked about previously defeating Sauron that did it for me, but Gil-galad's (Benjamin Walker) prediction that Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) would end up aiding Sauron, rather than destroying him, was also a big factor given her relationship with Halbrand.
That said, my assumption had been that Halbrand was a real person whom Sauron's spirit had taken refuge in, since Galadriel's archival research told us that he was the legitimate heir to the kingdom of the Southlands. But in this episode, Galadriel looks in a different archive that tells her there actually is no king of the Southlands, so never mind! As my colleague Devan Coggan has often pointed out on All Rings Considered, there have been implied parallels between Halbrand and Aragorn as lost royal heirs who spurn their lineage… which makes it all the weirder when Galadriel says that the line of the King of the Southlands was broken years ago, as definitive proof that Halbrand is a fake, when Saruman said basically the exact thing about the line of Isildur in The Lord of the Rings, yet Aragorn was genuine. This is all a little beside the point since Halbrand just fully admits he's Sauron in response to this inquiry, but it's a little weird how The Rings of Power loves making parallels (in dialogue, characterization, and plot points) with The Lord of the Rings but those connections don't always track coherently.
Ben Rothstein/Prime Video Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo) in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.'
Since Halbrand is Sauron, that disqualifies all other candidates! The season finale's other big revelation therefore revolves around the identity of the Stranger, who was one of the other major contenders. The Stranger is not Sauron… he is, of course, Gandalf. I can't take much credit for predicting this one, because it was so blindingly obvious from the second episode that I fervently hoped there would be some kind of zig-zag and maybe he would turn out to be Saruman or one of the other Istari. But once he started communing with fireflies and banging his head on the low-hanging roofs of Harfoot structures, it was hard to ignore the Gandalf evidence. Though he isn't referred to by that name in this episode (or by any of his others, like Mithrandir or Olórin), his recitation of the iconic Gandalf quote to "always follow your nose" makes it irrefutable.
If you thought the Stranger was Sauron, though, you shouldn't feel too bad, because those white-clad weirdos made the same mistake! This episode even begins with them calling him Sauron to his face, in an attempt at faking out the audience. The Stranger isn't sure what to make of this accusation… but once Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and the other Harfoots show up to help him, his protective instinct kicks into gear. As if to clear up any remaining confusion, he literally declares, "I'm good!" before blasting the evil ones with his wizard magic. It's sadly not enough to save my favorite Harfoot character, Lenny Henry's Sadoc Burrows, who gives his life to save the Stranger.
But while we're now all caught up with who's Gandalf and who's Sauron, the show gives us no explanation as to who this evil trio was. I'm on the record as having previously guessed that their Eminem-looking leader was Saruman, and his use of a staff to attack the Stranger and the Harfoots certainly feels like Saruman. But when Gandalf attacks them, their skin is stripped away to reveal ethereal, white wraiths. They look like the Nazgul in their true form… but they can't possibly be the Nazgul, because the Nazgul were created by the nine rings that Sauron gave to humans, and those rings don't exist yet! In any case, these monsters are banished or destroyed without much elaboration. For a show that has relied so heavily on dropping hints and teasing mysteries, it's disappointing that no answer is provided to this one. Hopefully the Stranger's coming journey into the East alongside Nori will give us answers.
Ben Rothstein/Prime Video
But while the nine rings of the Nazgul don't exist yet, other rings are in the process of being created. It only took the entire first season for The Rings of Power to live up to its name. Elrond (Robert Aramayo) takes his little sample of mithril back to Eregion, where Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) declares that it is only enough to forge a circular object of power. His first suggestion is a crown for Gil-galad to wear, though the elves balk at this kind of power resting in one being. Time is of the essence, though, because Gil-galad tells the rest that the Great Tree of Lindon is decaying rapidly after the activation of Mount Doom — something which would've been nice to see! When it comes to this pressing problem of the elves being literally about to die, we've still only seen a single blackened leaf.
In any case, Celebrimbor is having trouble manipulating the mithril in his forge. Halbrand's suggestion that he try alloying it with other metals (a relatively intuitive suggestion that nevertheless comes as a shock to supposedly the second-greatest elf metalsmith of all time) is what really tips Galadriel off that her supposedly human ally is more than he appears to be. When she confronts him with her suspicions, he admits to his true identity readily — though he tries to assuage his true motivations. Drawing her into a dream space, Sauron first replays the first scene of the show (when a young Galadriel was comforted by her brother) and then their own first meeting on the raft in the ocean. Though he still appears as Halbrand, the reflection in the water shows his true, armored Sauron form. He proposes that Galadriel become his Queen, in an obvious paraphrase of Galadriel's iconic monologue from The Lord of the Rings when she is briefly tempted by the One Ring. This is probably the most interesting bit of acting in the episode, but Galadriel refuses Sauron's temptation now as she will later (no surprise there), and pulls herself out of the dream space — though when she does, Halbrand/Sauron is nowhere to be found, and she is instead holding a knife at Elrond's throat.
Galadriel does listen to Sauron in one respect — namely, his assertion that if the elves tried to send her off to the Undying Lands for trying to continue her military expedition, what might they do when they learn she literally saved Sauron from the sea? So Galadriel decides not to tell her friends any of this, a decision that can't possibly backfire. Instead, she encourages Celebrimbor to continue with the forging project that Sauron was so interested in. They decide to forge three rings (one with a red gemstone for fire, one with a blue gemstone for water, and one with a diamond for air) since having only one would be despotic and two could create a civil war. Thankfully, there's no way that these three rings could ever be compromised — oh wait, the last shot of the season is Sauron approaching Mount Doom, a forge far greater than Celebrimbor's, where we know he will forge a One Ring that will control over all others, even the elven three. Rats!
Before we go, let's note that Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) make it back to Númenor. No sign or mention is made of Isildur (Maxim Baldry) this episode, as the show continues to pretend he's dead when absolutely everyone knows he's not because he plays a pivotal role in the very first scene of The Lord of the Rings. This continues to be a baffling creative choice, and how long are they going to continue the ruse? Won't Maxim Baldry inevitably be involved in press for season 2 when it happens, and pop up in set photos before then? I have no idea how pretending this iconic character is dead helps anyone.
But also… I've mostly refrained from making comparisons between The Rings of Power and its big-budget fantasy TV competitor House of the Dragon, because that's not what these recaps are for; we like to judge shows on their own merits. There's also no way that the writers of Rings of Power could have known that House of the Dragon was going to do their own version of a scene where an old king incoherently rambles important information to a young woman he mistakes for his daughter. But since both shows did do such scenes, and they came out within a week of each other, I can't help but think about how much better House of the Dragon's version was. We had a whole season to get to know Paddy Considine's King Viserys before he entered such a state, imbuing his ranting scene with tragedy and pathos. On the other hand, we've only seen Ken Blackburn's Tar-Palantir a few times, so don't feel his death as deeply. I am interested in the political crisis that will develop in Númenor following his death and Míriel's blinding… but that will have to wait for season 2.
It's a shame that Rings of Power season 1 is wrapping up just as things are getting interesting. Daniel Weyman and Charlie Vickers had to spend the previous seven episodes pretending to be someone they weren't, and only now got to actually perform as Gandalf and Sauron. My hope is that season 2, when it does arrive, will actually delve into character interactions (such as the family feud in Khazad-dum) rather than stringing along mysteries and eliding true identities. Hopefully there are more big battles too, because episode 6 remains the highlight of the series so far. C+
For more on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, listen to EW's new podcast All Rings Considered, featuring in-depth episode breakdowns and exclusive interviews.
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